Endo

March Tournament 2015: Day 1

Andy Hakuho (白鵬), Harumafuji (日馬富士), Injuries, Kakuryu (鶴竜), March Tournament 2015 , , , , , , ,

Day 1 and two big dawgs already down. Kakuryu pulled out of the tournament late due to injury and Ichinojo picked up the forfeit win. Kisenosato was overpowered by Tochi from Kochi. It was a good battle but Tochiozan had inside position and a lower center of balance. Once he got the ozeki to the edge, one last shove sent Kisenosato into the front row. The early loss does not bode well for a Japanese yusho.

With Kakuryu down, it looks like Harumafuji’s hungry again. After a powerful tachiai, he retreated, crouched, and engaged Tamawashi with full force, launching the Komusubi into the spectators. Hakuho followed up with a frenetic disposal of Myogiryu. These two have an interesting history. Myogiryu has gotten a gold star off the yokozuna but he’s also been on the receiving end of a ruthless knockout.

In other first day bouts, Goeido and Kotoshogiku earned decisive victories. Tochinoshin got a great win and Osunaarashi out-maneuvered a hard-charging Kyokutenho for a close victory. That was a good start for the Egyptian since he’s getting over that illness from last week. Hope

Unfortunately, Endo, Ikioi, and Gagamaru all started with losses. Endo charged strong but over committed and got spun around. Toyonoshima was then able to capitalize and push him off the dohyo. Hopefully they can get it going tomorrow.

The matchup I’m looking forward to tomorrow is Tochinoshin vs. Ichinojo. They’ve had some great, evenly contested, bouts, including that amazing uchimuso win for Tochinoshin in January. Ikioi will battle Osunaarashi tomorrow. Takayasu’s got an impressive 8 wins in 12 tries against Goeido so this may be Goeido’s first stumble as ozeki in front of his hometown crowd. It will be an important bout if he wants to have a strong tournament.

As always, thanks to Jason and Kintamayama for the videos!

Hatsubasho 2015: Day 14

Andy Hakuho (白鵬), Hatsubasho 2015 , , , , , , , , ,
Marking Position for Water Break
Marking Position for Water Break

I’ve never seen a water break in the middle of a match. Today, Ichinojo and Terunofuji’s marathon bout was a long stalemate for most of the match. It was really interesting to see how at 4 minutes in, they stopped the match and then the gyoji marked each wrestler’s position and allowed the combatants to get some water. After the break, they started back where they left off but it wasn’t long before Ichinojo finally overpowered Terunofuji, dragging him over the straw bales.

In the yokozuna bouts, Kisenosato assured himself of jun yusho hy beating Kakuryu. He was very aggressive and just too powerful today for the yokozuna, who fell to 10-4. Harumafuji also fell to 10-4, as he had nothing to counter Hakuho. He basically held on for dear life as Hak dragged him around the ring, and forced him out. Tomorrow, Kisenosato takes on Harumafuji with a share of the jun yusho on the line while Hakuho faces Kakuryu with a chance at sealing this tournament with a dominant undefeated zensho yusho.

Endo picked up an impressive quick win against Kotoshogiku while Goeido gave himself a chance to save his ozeki ranking with a nice throw victory over Aoiyama. Oosunaarashi and Okinoumi both picked up their all-important 8th wins. Down in Juryo, Kitataiki has the yusho wrapped up while Gagamaru’s 10 wins will hopefully be enough to ensure both wrestlers make it back to makuuchi.

Hatsubasho 2015: Day 12

Andy Hakuho (白鵬), Harumafuji (日馬富士), Hatsubasho 2015, Ichinojo (逸ノ城) , , , , , , , , , ,
Is Hakuho's 2 bout lead impenetrable?
Is Hakuho’s 2 bout lead impenetrable?

Kisenosato is basically our only hope to drop Hakuho and make this basho interesting. Today, he survived a bit of a scare against Toyonoshima in an entertaining bout. Tomorrow they will battle for the 50th time. The superzuna has a 38-11 advantage in this lengthy rivalry that goes back to Makushita when Kisenosato was known by his real family name, Hagiwara. The historical data at Sumo Games is fantastic and really interesting. Forgive the plug but I love data and this is fascinating. In this case it’s also really interesting to see how quickly in their careers Hakuho advanced into the makuuchi and became a Yokozuna.
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